My local supermarket had a sale on fresh skinless haddock filets at a very low cost ... $4.99 per pound. Typically fresh haddock filets sell for $8.99 to $10.99 per pound. The reason for the low sale price? The filets were small, perhaps one half inch thick, two and one half inches wide, and eight or nine inches long. They were advertised as "chowder" fish. I saw this as an opportunity to lay in a nice supply of haddock for multiple end uses.
The reality is that the small haddock filets can be used for any typical haddock recipe quite successfully. About the only reservation I might have is using them for kabobs over a hot charcoal grill as the thin areas around the edges could easily overcook and become hard and dry. In any event, I bought more than three pounds of the small filets and later vacuum sealed them in roughly 12 ounce amounts and put them into the deep freeze for later use.
Later I decided to use one package to make baked haddock ... just a small amount for two of us for dinner. I did not have a recipe for baked haddock and I never had any baked haddock in the past that I truly enjoyed. Why? I have two reasons ... 1) I really like fried battered haddock best, and 2) I've never experienced baked haddock as being very tasty due to herbs used in typical recipes. Frankly I despise the use of dill or tarragon with fish, for all they do is hide or overpower whatever delicate flavor is natural to the fish.
Thus, my challenge was to create my own recipe using whatever I considered to be good ... something so unconventional that I never saw it anywhere. That was easy. The combination of butter, lemon juice, salt, smoked paprika, chopped basil and chopped parsley came to mind immediately. Both herbs would contribute to flavor while allowing the fish flavor to come through nicely.
You likely have not seen other recipes calling for frozen fresh herbs, but they process well for this type of recipe. What I often do is take fresh herbs, wash them and shake off excess water, cut off and discard the stems, then bag and vacuum seal the herbs in roughly two ounce amounts and then put them into the deep freeze for later use. Thus, when I later process them they are frozen, flat and packed tightly together and easy to cut and dice, and they then thaw quickly. You do not have to do what I do with the herbs. Simply use fresh, washed herbs and compress them after chopping to get amounts about twice what is called for in this recipe where I use compacted frozen herbs.
In short, my recipe was a complete success. Peggy and I both loved the baked haddock. The flavor was excellent and totally different from anything I ever had before. So I had another fine recipe to include in Food Nirvana.
One important note to include right up front is that the baking should be done at a lower than normal oven temperature (300 degrees F) and for a very short time, like 20 to 30 minutes maximum, as the thin filets cook through quickly. You don't want to make the fish dry ... keep it moist and tender. Actually, the fish filets I used were still partially frozen when I initially put them into the baking dish, so that impacted the necessary baking time. In short, check the fish after 15 minutes of baking and every five minutes after that and remove the fish from the oven immediately when the filets are barely cooked through.
The fish is best if served hot immediately after baking so prepare all the other items you plan to serve with the meal before baking the fish. We happened to make a lightly seasoned macaroni salad and the combination was delicious and complementary. A nice light Pinot Grigio wine is a fine beverage for the meal.
The recipe I provide below is scaled up slightly to use one pound of haddock, or, enough for two typical adult servings. You can scale up the recipe easily. For example, you might use an 9" by 13" baking dish and 1 1/2 lbs. of haddock filets, etc., and serve three adults or two adults and two children. Enough said. Be gentle and win, big time.
Ingredients: (two adult servings)
1 lb. of thin fresh haddock filets
1/4 lb. of butter, divided
Fresh lemon juice from 1/2 of a large lemon
1/4 tsp. of sea salt
3/4 tsp. of smoked paprika
2 tbsp. of frozen chopped fresh basil (or twice that amount of fresh, compacted chopped basil leaves)
2 tbsp. of frozen chopped fresh parsley (or twice that amount of fresh, compacted chopped parsley)
Directions:
Set the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.
Wash the fresh fish and then cut each filet in half crosswise.
Cut half of the butter into 1/4" thick pats and distribute them evenly into an 8" by 8" baking dish.
Fit the cut fish pieces into the baking dish on top of the butter, one layer thick.
Put the other half of the butter with the salt and the paprika into a microwave safe bowl.
Add the lemon juice and the chopped basil and chopped parsley to the bowl.
Microwave the bowl contents just until the butter has mostly melted.
Stir the bowl contents to mix the ingredients well.
Spoon the bowl contents over the fish filets as evenly as you can.
Bake the fish for 15 minutes and check a thicker filet piece for doneness by cutting through it.
Continue to bake the fish, if necessary, until there is no shiny area in the middle interior of the filet you check, but be sure to check for doneness every five minutes.
Remove the fish from the oven and serve it with whatever other items you planned for your meal.
Your guests may well want to spoon some of the liquid in the baking dish over the filets. It is very tasty. Also, the use of sea salt was very limited in this recipe so your guests may want to season the fish with sea salt.
Your guests will be highly pleased and surprised and you will get nice compliments.